Improvement in jewelry pins and hooks



R. L. SHANKS. Jewelry Pin and Book.

No. 197,230. Patented Nov. 20,1877.

.To all whom it may concern:

UNITED, STATES PATENT 'Qrricn.

Bonner SHANKS, or GREENWIOH, NEW YORK.

' IMCPROWVEMENT IN JEWELRY PINS AND HOOKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 19%,230, dated November 20, 1877; application filed j August 16, 1877. I

Be it known that 1, ROBERT L. SHANKs, of Greenwich, in the county of Washington and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Jewelry Pin and Hooks, which improvement is fully set forth in the following specification and accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure 1 represents a perspective view of an ear-ring or jewel with pendant, viewed from its rear side, and illustrating my inven-* tion. Fig. 2 is a side view of the same. Fig. 3 is an end view of the improvement, taken at lines No. l in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 4. is a perspective view of a safety-pin embodying my invention; and Fig. 5, a side View of a gents' shirt-pin having my improvement. l

The object of my invention is to furnish a catch for engagement with the ear wire or pin of a jewel, by which the flee end or point of the ear wire or pin will be securely held, and all liability of its being thrown out from said catch by any accidental draft or pressure on the end orpoint of the wire or pin will be wholly removed, and the saidcatch will be capable of holding the same until purposely removed.

In the drawings, A represents the jewel intended to be suspended or exposed and secured. B is the pendant. a is the loop-wire, made with the form generally employed by the trade. a is the equivalent pin, also old, and employed heretofore by the trade for securing jewels in place.

Securely attached to jewel A, at its lower rear end or edge, is the guarded catch G, composed of the guards c c and the bow-catch a, made of one continuous piece of wire, with the lower and terminating ends of the guards turned in an opposite direction fi'om the bow, as shown, that when the guarded catch thus formed is secured to the back of the jewel or jewel-plate, the guards 0 0 may form with the said plate or back of the jewel, by reason of its offset, a hook, from which may be suspended a pendant, and at the same time throw the guards c 0 out from the back of the plate to a distance sufficient to form a passage-way between said guards and said plate, for the free movement of the end or point of the wire or pin in either direction, as indicated by arrows in Fig. 3. The bow of the catch is turned outward from the upper ends of the guards at about right angles with the same, as shown, and may be made U-shaped, as in Fig. 3, or with an eyeshape, in which the lower ends of the bow of the catch, conjoining with the upper ends of the guards, are made to nearly touch, leaving a passage-way about equal to the diameter of the loop-wire or pin for its entrance to the catch.

It will be observed that as the guards c 0 are made continuous with the catch 0 the said catch is rendered stronger than catches having but one leg or foot for support from the back plate of the jewel, as heretofore made.

It will also be observed that by making the catch at right angles with guard, so that the end of the wire or pin may rest in the bow ofthe catch at a distance off from the guards, all liability of the pin or wire becoming disengaged from the catch (by reason of the point or end of the pin or wire becoming caught in laces, fringes, ribbons, or other material in an accidental manner, and thereby pulled down) is wholly removed, as the guards will in all cases prevent the entangling material from drawing the point or end of the wire or pin below a line with the opening of the loop of the catch, so as to cause it to escape.

It may also be readily seen that the end of the wire or pin may be readily thrown out from the catch in either direction instead of from only one side, as heretofore, which is of great importance or advantage, as it enables the operator to readily secure the pin in a reliable manner from either direction without the least inconvenience; and it may be further seen that this invention provides a secure means for holding a pendant, without the least liability of its disengagement with the main jewel, as the guards form a reliable hook for its suspension, while the catch, standing at right angles with the guards, operates as a head to prevent a ready slipping ofi of the loop of the pendant, and the pin or .wire, when in the catch, serves as a key to prevent all disengagement of the suspended article from the guarded catch.

It is evident that this guarded catch may be employed with pins for securing shawls, blankets, and other articles, when the several parts are formed, as shown in Fig. 4, wholly of wire, having its body formed of parallel side wires, and a hook with an upturned end provided with a space between the wires composing it, for the reception of the point of a pin, the opposite end of which is looped and intertwisted with the continuous single wire, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. A. jewelry hook and pin consisting of an ornament, A, provided at its lower end with a hook, '6, formed of a continuous 'bent wire, a, with an upturned end, 0, and a space between the bent wires composing it, for the reception of the free end of the bent wire e, the hack 0 also serving to susped a pendant, B,

provided with an eye at its upper end, sub-- stantially as shown and described.

ROBT. L. SHANKS.

Witnesses:

JAMES MGLEAN, J. S. CULVER. 

